It is not the substations, poles or power stations that are UK Power Networks’ most important assets, according to the company’s chief executive Basil Scarsella, but its employees who work round the clock in all weather to keep the lights on in more than 8m properties that the electricity distributor serves across London, East Anglia and the southeast, writes Zoe Thomas.

Scarsella acknowledges that lots of companies cite their people as their biggest asset, but in his case, he says, “we believe it.” He has led UK Power Networks since it was formed eight years ago, when EDF Energy Operations was bought by the Hong Kong-based Cheung Kong Group.

“Right from day one we set out a very simple vision of what we wanted to achieve: firstly we wanted to be an employer of choice,” says the boss who spends two or three days each month at regional depots, and who often drops by to visit operational staff working after hours in London, where UK Power Networks has its headquarters.

“It’s for the employees to decide if we are any good or not,” he accepts, hence, “We decided we wanted to be measured through The Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For survey.”

UK Power Networks ranks ninth overall in this year’s 25 Best Big Companies to Work For list. For questions in our survey relating to how employees feel about their pay and benefits it was beaten by only one other big company.

“We are all employees, including me,” says Scarsella. “What is it that we all value? It’s job security — we are able to guarantee that, reasonable pay for a good day’s work and the ability to progress in the organisation based on performance.”

Nearly half the firm’s 6,194-strong workforce are on a final- salary pension, now closed — “and protecting it is important”. A separate bonus scheme is linked to business performance and works the same for everyone, so that “all employees are incentivised”.

“We’ve been very clear what we want our workforce to deliver, we’ve measured it, we’ve provided adequate rewards,” says Scarsella. “There’s good evidence — not just me saying it — that a highly engaged workforce delivers better customer service, which in turn delivers better results for the shareholders. They are all interrelated.”

STAFF FASHION THIS BUSINESS

Ben Lewis says River Island’s future depends on its workers

River IslandChief executive Ben Lewis

From market stall to high-street stalwart, the River Island story is a family affair, writes Emma Broomfield. Founder Bernard Lewis launched his clothing business in 1940s London. Now his nephew Ben is at the helm of a fashion empire that reported £945m sales last year.

“We have to keep evolving as a business in these challenging times,” says Lewis, who assumed the role of chief executive in 2010 after 20 years working across every part of the company. “It’s competitive — customers have access to every fashion brand in the world on the phone in their pocket.”

Lewis’s philosophy is “Live in the present and plan for the future.” That begins with investing in those who know the brand best: its employees. “We’re fortunate because we have brilliant people in the company, many who have been here for years,” says Lewis. “They know the business better than anyone.”

That includes those “at the coalface” working in the 290 stores across the UK, plus more in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. “They interact with our customers every day and their ideas about how we shape the business’s futureare invaluable.”

To ensure all 8,303 employees feel their input matters there are regular company-wide feedback sessions, along with the Pride (People of River Island Delivering Excellence) awards, a peer-to-peer recognition scheme. These initiatives have contributed to creating a highly motivated workforce. The results of the Best Companies employee surveys reveal high satisfaction levels: people feel cared for as individuals and love their jobs.

Lewis and his team are also focused on retaining top performers. “It’s the talent in our business that differentiates us,” he says. To ensure the best and brightest stick around, the firm is big on in-house training including Model the Way for Managers, a development programme of workshops and mentoring.

While some retail giants have been felled by falling sales, the privately owned company appears to be weathering the storm, making a pre-tax profit of £80.6m in 2017. Investment in distribution and technology is high on the agenda, helping the London-based fashion brand to adapt to the changing ways its customers shop.

WHEN INSPIRED THEY GIVE 150%

To Heidi Mottram, motivation is key at Northumbrian WaterLORNE CAMPBELL/GUZELIAN

Northumbrian Water GroupChief executive Heidi Mottram

Whenever Heidi Mottram, chief executive of Northumbrian Water Group, watches the TV programme Undercover Boss, it makes her laugh, writes Sue Leonard. The idea of not being recognised by your workforce is mystifying to Mottram, who spent over 110 hours at more than 60 roadshows last year chatting with almost all of her 3,152 employees about everything from business strategy to safety shoes and Brexit.

“I think everybody in the business knows me,” says Mottram, who regularly visits the firm’s 58 sites, which provide water and sewerage services to 2.7m customers in northeast England trading as Northumbrian Water, and water services to 1.8m in the southeast where it trades as Essex and Suffolk Water.

Since arriving as the water industry’s first female leader in 2010, the former managing director of Northern Rail has championed diversity in the male-dominated industry, addressing the gender imbalance in her leadership team which is now evenly split.

“The same people thinking the same way are more likely to make mistakes faster,” says Mottram, who is after more than just a gender mix. “People with different approaches and experiences make better decisions collegiately.” Last October the firm introduced gender-balanced shortlists for senior roles and apprenticeships.

Mottram knows that to achieve the group’s vision of being the leader in sustainable water and wastewater services depends upon having a motivated workforce. She involves employees in shaping the company’s values, and encourages innovative thinking: staff-generated ideas are set to save £1.5m over the next three years.

“We know that when people are happy and energised there is a direct link to improved customer service and more discretionary effort, so that increases productivity.” Revenues rose by £13m to £834.6m last year.

Mottram says: “Employee engagement matters because if people are in that space, they give you 150% — that’s just what they want to do.”

EAGER TO LISTEN TO EVERY TUTOR

Bill Mills, founder and chief executive of Explore Learning

Explore LearningChief executive Bill Mills

Lessons in school management were served up with the porridge when Bill Mills was a boy, writes Beverley D’Silva. He grew up at Highfield, a boys’ prep school in Hampshire run by his grandfather and his father as owner-headmasters and he still owns it.

“We had breakfast in the school dining room, and conversation often revolved around the challenges and triumphs at school,” he says.

Mills is chief executive of Explore Learning, the tutoring business he launched 18 years ago. Supplying extra tuition in English and maths to children aged 4 to 14, the enterprise now has 140 centres nationwide and a turnover of £45.7m in 2017.

He says the idea for Explore Learning was “bubbling in my mind for three years” before he quit consulting to raise finance and open the first centre in 2001. That and each centre since has a full-time director and two assistant directors, plus a big team of part-time tutors, most of them young female students earning less than £7,500 a year.

If the income seems low, Mills argues that it is “comparable” with a newly qualified teacher’s pro-rata salary, while the hours — after school and at weekends — fit with students’ own studies.

His vision for Explore has always been “to build confident, fearless learners. Some children benefit from extra support. If they go back into school and flourish as a result, we’re very happy.”

Engaging with a burgeoning team is “something we obsess about”. Mills relies on regional managers to convey the firm’s vision, help nurture its culture and feed back to him. He visits every region and speaks at big company events, such as award dinners. “We listen to and really value staff feedback. That’s what the Best Companies survey gives us.”

Listening to staff has led to improvements in job descriptions, training, pay and benefits. As to the future, international expansion beckons: six centres have already opened in Dallas-Fort Worth, with plans to develop further into Texas.

Mills has learnt to delegate, and values his home life with his wife and three teenage children. But he still has lots to accomplish. “People ask, ‘When are you going to do something different?’” he says. “I don’t feel the urge to. When I look ahead I think, ‘We can grow this, improve that, and I want to be part of it.’ I’ll be here for a while yet.”

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February 24 2019

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